The Franchise Chronicles: THE ROAD WARRIOR

By Edward O'Hare

 The Franchise Chronicles moves into high gear today. Last week, I reviewed the first Mad Max installment and today I am going to blaze through The Road Warrior (1981) or Mad Max 2 if you saw this outside of America, directed by George Miller. My goal for this series is to examine how a franchise evolves over time and since this is the first sequel I am covering, I feel like it is the first real test for this mission. The two things that really hit home with me during this viewing were the filmmakers’ success at world-building and raising the stakes.

The only real reference to the events of the previous film comes in the form of a prologue montage of scenes mixed with smoky filters, stock footage and voice-over from some guy we don’t know yet. It paints the film in a very different light. The narrator goes into detail about how World War 3 ravaged the planet and led to an oil shortage that threw society into chaos. This is all new information. Some of it was implied in Mad Max but none of it was spelled out (it didn’t have to be). I have to applaud the restraint used in this opening. It is just enough connective tissue to link both films but still allows each of them to stand on their own.

Once the movie starts in earnest, we can immediately tell that a fair amount of time has passed and the world has gotten much crazier. The production and costume design are taken to the next level. Everything looks like a bunch of bikers took aspects of steampunk aesthetic and made it look cool. We have dune buggies, a gyrocopter, flamethrowers the size of spotlights and hairstyles I only ever thought existed in ‘80s cartoons. It’s as if Mad Max was a pilot presentation George Miller put out saying “Look how insane I can be with no money. Imagine what I could do if I had an actual budget.” Then he got that budget and made Road Warrior.

It is also worth noting that Miller did not let all of his new toys distract him from telling a compelling story. We meet a bunch of new characters like the Feral Kid and the Gyro Captain. It’s funny how this is the kind of movie where you don’t really need to bother learning anyone’s names. It’s perfect for anyone’s Grandpa with a terrible memory. Max himself is once again reserved and passive for most of the film, only entering the fray once it is advantageous for him and he does not attack the marauders until after they have mangled his car and killed his dog.

The thrust of the story is very simple: Max needs gas and learns about a group of nice people with tons of it that need protection from a group of bad people. The magic comes from the way Miller builds on those elements and soups them up with non-visual storytelling. We get a handful of jaw-dropping set pieces, most of which involve Max getting in a vehicle and racing with Humungus and his followers.

There are two specific elements I want to focus on that I feel this film uses masterfully and I wish contemporary films used more often: Wide landscape shots and practical stunts. This movie was shot in the middle of nowhere and Miller uses that to show the scope of the action and the sparseness of this world. In one frame we can see Max staking out the refinery from the rocks AND the marauders attacking from the road AND off in the distance is nothing but green pasture for as far as the eye can see. This also helps to elevate and extend the final chase. We start with about a dozen hellfire cars racing to catch the tanker and then gradually close in until all the action rests on Max and the Feral Kid scrapping to keep control of the cab. Suddenly we move back out to see the action from the gyrocopters perspective as the villagers pull up to assist Max. Then we go back inside the cab and the scene gets a second wind before racing to the big finish.

Watching this for the first time in a few years, I can see how The Road Warrior influenced an entire generation of action movies that followed. It still holds up today and I would point to it as one of only a handful of sequels that surpasses its predecessor. Next week: THUNDERDOME!

Edward O’Hare, nickname TBD, has been poking around the deep caverns of pop culture for some years now. His hobbies include making Starfleet org charts and badgering people who haven’t seen the Adventures of Captain Marvel movie serial from 1941. He one day dreams of teaching Bill Simmons that superheroes and pro athletes are not all that different.